Naturalist Weekly: Micro-Season–The Safflower Blooms

This week the Naturalist Weekly blog was all about the second micro-season, The Safflower Blooms, of the mini-season, Grain Full. Mark S, who writes this weekly blog, then informs his readers all about the safflower.

This reader learned so much about the safflower in this blog. Because it is native to the Middle East and Asia, it is a drought-resistant plant and can grow a taproot that extends six feet into the soil. The plant itself can grow as tall as six feet, too. This is just some of the information that is imparted on this week’s blog. To read all about safflowers, check out https://naturalistweekly.com/2023/05/26/micro-season-the-safflower-blossoms-2023/

Per usual, there is haiku to be read by haiku masters like Buson, Issa, and others as well as an invitation to write haiku about current flowering plants from a ‘zoom-in or zoom-out’ method.

This pedometer geek poet made an attempt to write haiku with a ‘zoom-in’ method (going from a more wide angle view to a smaller macro view), but I’m not sure whether it really could be read that way. Regardless, the haiku are as follows:

honeymoon
he tucks a peony
behind her ear
~Nancy Brady, 2021
published in Stardust Haiku, June 2021

late spring…
upon lilac blossoms
honeybees
~Nancy Brady, 2023

To read all the haiku written by other poets, check out the comments at the bottom of the blog post.

BP: Haiku Happenings–May

This month the editors of various haiku journals have been extremely kind to this pedometer geek poet. One of the haiku selected for publication has been previously mentioned in a previous post.

Pure Haiku Journal, which is edited by Freya Pickard, selected a haiku for the Orchid theme. It was posted on May 18 on her site as well as reblogged here.

Scarlet Dragonfly’s editor, Kathleen Trocmet, also selected a haiku for inclusion on her online journal. It is as follows:

May Day . . .
apple blossoms mix
with parade confetti

~Nancy Brady, 2023

Thanks, Kathleen, for selecting this haiku. To read all the haiku, check out https://scarletdragonflyjournal.wordpress.com and click out the link on the issues.

This pedometer geek poet finally received the Spring 2023 issue of First Frost, #5 and within its glossy pages contained the following haiku:

spring melancholy

the scar she covers

with long sleeves

~Nancy Brady, 2023

Thanks to Elizabeth McNunn-Tetangeo, Eric Burke, Michael Dylan Welch, and Dale Wisely, the editors of First Frost #5, for choosing this haiku for publication. It is greatly appreciated. In this edition, there were poets from nine countries included. To read them all, check the First Frost website to order the issue, which is https://firstfrostpoetry.com

Last, but not least, Roberta Beach Jacobson, the editor of Cold Moon Journal, accepted one of my haiku for her May edition of her online journal. It is as follows:

earth day…

dandelions decorate

the lawn

Nancy Brady, 2023

Roberta not only produces the Cold Moon Journal, but she also is editor for Five Fleas (Itchy Poetry). To read all the haiku at Cold Moon, check out https://coldmoonjournal.blogspot.com/ To read some itchy poetry, check out https://fivefleas.blogspot.com Thanks, Roberta, for choosing to publish this haiku; it’s appreciated.

#pedometergeek #haiku #senryu #ScarletDragonfly #PureHaiku #FirstFrost #ColdMoon

Naturalist Weekly: Micro-Season–Bamboo Shoots Appear

This week at the Naturalist Weekly blog, Mark S discusses the third micro-season, Bamboo Shoots Appear, of the mini-season, First Summer.

Mark then discusses the bamboo plant itself before going on to discuss the many uses of bamboo. From food to furniture to construction to textiles and more, bamboo has become useful (and used). Bamboo is a versatile plant.

As has become his habit, he shares some haiku written by Basho, Issa, and other haiku masters before inviting his readers to write some haiku about bamboo using the “what-when-where” method of writing haiku as described in The Way of Haiku. To see this link as well as read Mark’s blog, check out https://naturalistweekly.com/2023/05/19/micro-season-bamboo-shoots-appear-2023/com

This pedometer geek poet attempted to write a couple haiku using the “what-when-where” method. Whether successful or not is to be determined.

bamboo shoots…
watching pandas eat lunch
at the zoo
~Nancy Brady, 2023

peonies…
ants crawl over buds
in the garden
~Nancy Brady, 2023

To read all the haiku, check out the comments at the bottom of this week’s blog at Naturalist Weekly.

#haiku #pedometergeek #NaturalistWeekly #bamboo

5 – 18

Thanks to Freya Pickard for selecting this haiku based on the ORCHID theme. To read all the haiku selected, check out her website, Pure Haiku.

purehaiku

tucked into a book
the corsage of blooms she wore
--her prom memories

© Nancy Brady 2023

I am a pharmacist by vocation and a writer of haiku and other poetic forms by avocation.

This haiku is part of our ORCHID series.

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Naturalist Weekly: Micro-Season–The Earthworms Rise and Other Haiku Happenings

 

This week’s blog at Naturalist Weekly, which is written by Mark S, is all about the second micro-season, The Earthworms Rise, of the mini-season, First Summer. Mark S continues his blog with a discussion of the various kinds of earthworms. He has added some links that explain more about the differences between the various kinds. All in all, it was a quite informative post, and definitely worth reading.

Mark also has a few haiku posted about invertebrates that are related to the spring season, and then invites readers to write a haiku about any invertebrate.

This pedometer geek poet took up the challenge and have included the following haiku:

the randomness
of my thoughts
–slug trail
~Nancy Brady
published in Failed Haiku #88, 2023

rainy hike…
earthworms come
to ground
~Nancy Brady, 2018

ear worm…
uptown funk
in my p-p-poker face
~Nancy Brady, 2018

Actually, the last “invertebrate” isn’t one, but I have been infected by more than my share of ear worms. To read the haiku as well as his informative blog on earthworms, check out https://naturalistweekly.com/2023/05/12/micro-season-the-earthworms-rise-2023

In other haiku happenings, this poet has had several haiku and/or senryu in several different journals. In the British journal, Presence, Issue 75 March 2023, the following haiku was selected:

the howl

of the neighbor’s dog

–wolf moon

~Nancy Brady, 2023

Thanks, Ian Storr, for including this haiku in Presence.

In the New Zealand journal, Kokako 38, the following three haiku or senryu were selected:

offbeat…

the dance the Fibonacci waltz

1,1,2,3,,,

~Nancy Brady, 2023

zoom meeting…

i notice dust

on the desk

~Nancy Brady, 2023

pulled in

two different directions

–dog walking

~Nancy Brady, 2023

Thanks, Patricia Prime and Margaret Beverland for including these three poems in your journal. As an aside, the first of them (offbeat…) contained a typo on my submission. I inadvertently forgot the Y in the second line (they) when I entered the poem to be sent, but now I rather prefer it without the Y and consider it serendipity!

#NaturalistWeekly #haiku #senryu #pedometergeek #Presence #Kokako

Naturalist Weekly: Micro-Season–This First Frog Calls

Mark S has posted this week’s Naturalist Weekly blog about the first micro-season, This First Frog Calls, of the mini-season, First Summer. He then goes on to discuss spring peepers, their life cycle, and taxonomy of them. He has even included a short recording of a spring peeper. Check it out: https://naturalistweekly.com/2023/05/05/micro-season-this-first-frog-calls-2023/

Per usual, he also shares some haiku from Basho, Buson, Issa, and Jane Reichhold about frogs as well as invites readers to write haiku about spring amphibians.

This pedometer geek writer wrote the following haiku although the last one might be considered a senryu:

vernal pools…
listening to the croaking
of frogs
~Nancy Brady, 2023

children chasing tadpoles
with plastic cups
–spring picnic
~Nancy Brady, 2023

early morning…
she awakens to
a frog in her throat
~Nancy Brady, 2023

To read all the haiku written by some of the readers, check out the comments at the end of the blog.

In other haiku happenings, this pedometer geek has had two monoku and two duostich (pronounced duostick) in the first issue of Alan Summers’ Pan Haiku Review.

Thanks Alan for selecting them and editing a couple to make them better. It is appreciated.

They are as follows:

the baby she didn’t have wild rose 

~Nancy Brady, 2021   

in the nightmare being lost maze

~Nancy Brady, 2023

a place on the wall

blowing leaves          

~Nancy Brady, 2023                         

his sketches find

the south wind no longer warm

~Nancy Brady, 2023     

To read all the monoku (one-line haiku) and duostich (two-line haiku), check out    https://www.callofthepage.org/the-pan-haiku-review/

(Copy and paste this link into your browser or Google it)

     

         

Carrot Ranch: 99-Word: Hope is a Color

This week Charli Mills, Head Wrangler, gave the Word Wranglers the following prompt:

April 24, 2023, prompt: In 99 words (no more, no less), write a story about the color of hope. Who is in need of hope and why? How can you use color to shape the story? Pick a color, any color. Go where the prompt leads!

This pedometer geek writer hasn’t done many of these 99-word stories this year for various reasons, but since April is National Poetry Month, I decided to write a 99-word poem (no more, no less) instead of a story. The poem is as follows:

Hope is Color

Hope is a color

Hope is violet–for the crocuses, the first to bloom,

Hope is indigo—for the clouds at twilight

Hope is blue—for the sky above,

Hope is green—for the grass in spring,

Hope is yellow—for the sun which shines,

Hope is orange—for pumpkins and those pies

Hope is red—for the maple’s leaves in the fall

Hope is white—pure and clean

    And with summer rain showers, which are followed by the sun

        it becomes a rainbow,

         which is full of color, full of dreams, and full of imagination.

Hope is color.

~Nancy Brady, 2023

This pedometer geek writer must admit that I have already modified this poem (most poems are works-in-progress, but I digress) into what I consider to be a better poem. I’ll be reading it (and a couple other poems) at a poetry reading this afternoon.

To read all the 99-word flash fiction stories from this week as well as previous weeks, check out https://carrotranch.com/blog/

PS. Speaking of colors, what is your favorite color?

#pedometergeek #poem #NationalPoetryMonth #99-wordstories

Naturalist Weekly: Micro-Season–The Frost Stops, the Rice Grows

This week at Naturalist Weekly, Mark S wrote a blog about the second micro-season, The Frost Stops the Rice Grows, of the mini-season, Grain Rain. He proceeded to blog about the different kinds of rice and then about the stages in the planting of rice. It is quite informational and worth reading.

Mark also blogged about the ending of frost for the season before sharing some haiku from haiku poets such as Issa and Buson. He went on to inviting readers to adding some haiku about spring planting or spring gardening in the comments.

To read the whole blog, check out https://naturalistweekly.com/2023/04/28/micro-season-the-frost-stops-the-rice-grows-2023

This pedometer geek writer wrote the following in response to his invitation:

spring planting
dandelion seeds found
in the colt’s tail
~Nancy Brady, 2021
published in Stardust Haiku #53 5/2021

helicopter parent…
helping her daughter
plant maple seeds
~Nancy Brady, 2019

spring planting…
sowing seeds
of discontent
~Nancy Brady, 2021

Check out all the haiku written by some of the readers of Mark’s blog in the comments.

In other haiku happenings, Valentina Ranaldi-Adams’ April edition of her Stardust Haiku: Poetry With a Little Sparkle has been published. There are haiku from poets from Australia, Canada, India, Italy, Singapore, the United Kingdom, and the United States. This is the seventy-sixth issue, and this pedometer geek writer is thrilled to have the following haiku chosen for the journal:

spring formal

only the junco dressed

in a tux

~Nancy Brady, 2023

Thanks, Valentina, for choosing this haiku for inclusion; it is really appreciated.To read all the haiku, check out https://stardusthaiku.blogspot.com/

This poet also participated in several international rengay gatherings of haiku poets to learn and start to write rengay, a kind of linked haiku form. These gatherings were spearheaded by Sherry Grant and her daughter, Zoe, haiku poets from New Zealand.

An offshoot of these gatherings produced Raining Rengay, Issue 1, which was published earlier this month. This is also the brainchild of Sherry and Zoe Grant. This poet was paired with Hassane Zemmouri during one of the breakout sessions, and we wrote the rengay entitled Hunger. Thanks Hassane for working with me in our joint endeavor. This rengay as well as all the other rngay can be read at https://rainingrengay.wordpress.com/rr-issue1/

Since this first foray into rengay, this poet has had the pleasure of writing a few others. Whether they will ever be published remains to be seen; however, it was a pleasure to pair up with other poets from around the globe. Thanks Richard Tice, Sherry and Zoe Grant; it was so much fun.

#haiku #rengay #StardustHaiku #pedometergeek #NaturalistWeekly #senryu

Naturalist Weekly: Micro-Season–The First Reeds Grow

Mark S posted his weekly blog, Naturalist Weekly, yesterday. This week’s blog is about the first micro-season, The First Reeds Grow, of the mini-season, Grain Rain. He then goes on to discuss the different kinds of reeds, and that this is the season in which they green.

Per usual, he shares a few haiku from the haiku masters, and then invites readers to submit some haiku of their own.

To read his blog, check out https://naturalistweekly.com/2023/04/21/micro-season-the-first-reeds-grow-2023/

For this prompt, this pedometer geek writer wrote the following haiku:

freshly mown grass…
she looks ahead
to summer
~Nancy Brady, 2020

This haiku (above) was first published on the Haiku Foundation’s Haiku Dialogue.

papyrus reeds sprout…
a kingfisher bends
one of its reeds
~Nancy Brady, 2023

greening lawn…
violets peek
through the grass
~Nancy Brady, 2023

The papyrus reed haiku is based on my husband’s and my trip to Kenya in 2012. Our guide took us in his small rowboat on Lake Naivasha looking for hippos, but not too closely since they are rather dangerous, when we saw the kingfisher sitting on the papyrus. Kenya’s kingfisher looks similar to the one that we see in Ohio. The last haiku describes the lawns around our home (including ours). With the greening of the grass comes violets.

To read all the haiku by other poets, check out the comments at the end of Mark’s blog.

In other haiku happenings, the World Haiku Review for spring 2023 was published online. The issue is full of haiku from poets from around the globe.

This pedometer geek writer had the following haiku accepted for WHR Spring 2023, thanks to the editors:

free and open elections

at the point of a gun

–annexation

~Nancy Brady, 2023

To read all the haiku, check out https://worldhaikureview.wordpress.com

Naturalist Weekly: Micro-Season–The Rainbow First Appears

Mark S has published this week’s blog at Naturalist Weekly on the micro-season, The Rainbow First Appears. It is the third micro-season of the mini-season called Clear and Bright. He goes on to talk about rainbows, why they start to appear in the sky, and includes fascinating trivia about rainbows.

Mark, a haiku poet himself, also introduces some haiku written by haiku masters, past and present, as well as invites readers to share some haiku based on the season. This week he went a little bit further suggesting that the haiku be written to demonstrating the unfolding method, which is to say that the haiku gradually reveals itself.

This pedometer geek attempted to write some haiku that used the unfolding method, but whether or not they work that way will be up to the reader to decide. The haiku are as follows:

sunshine
through prismed glass door
ROY G. BIV
~Nancy Brady, 2019

summer festival…
a popsicle melts
into a rainbow
~Nancy Brady, 2022 (originally published in Stardust Haiku, July 22)

watering new plants…
the cat runs through
the rainbow
~Nancy Brady, 2023

To read his blog, check out https://naturalistweekly.com/2023/04/14/micro-season-the-rainbow-first-appears-2023/

To read all the haiku on rainbows, check out the comments at the end of his blog.

#haiku #pedometergeek #NaturalistWeekly #MarkS #rainbows